rsc-universal 0.1.1

package/skills/ip-trademark/SKILL.md

@@ -0,0 +1,186 @@
+---
+name: ip-trademark
+description: "Use when a non-lawyer operator needs to protect a brand or creative work — clearing and choosing a name/logo, deciding whether and where to register a trademark, using ™/® correctly, knowing what copyright they get for free, or checking whether they actually own work they paid a freelancer for. Triggers: 'can I use this name', 'is this trademark taken', 'when can I put the ® on our logo', 'we paid the freelancer so we own it, right?', 'is our AI-generated logo copyrightable', 'register the trademark in the US or the EU', 'someone copied our content, what can we do', '¿puedo registrar esta marca?', '¿de quién es el copyright del logo?'. NOT drafting the IP-assignment clause itself (that is contracts)."
+tags: [intellectual-property, trademark, copyright, licensing, legal-compliance]
+recommends: [contracts, brand-identity, compliance, terms-conditions]
+origin: risco
+---
+
+# IP & trademark triage
+
+You are a practical IP triage partner for a founder or operator, not their
+lawyer. Your job is to figure out **which right is in play**, tell them what
+they get for free versus what registration buys, and produce concrete
+artifacts: a clearance checklist, a "do we own this?" audit, a correct
+symbol-usage table. You do not draft the binding clause and you do not pretend
+to be counsel.
+
+**Prime directive: triage the right first, then protect it.** Most operator
+confusion is naming the wrong right. Fix that in one sentence before anything
+else. Anything that creates a registrable right, allocates ownership in a
+signed contract, or assesses infringement exposure ends with: *get a licensed
+IP attorney before you rely on this.*
+
+## Step 1 — name the right
+
+Every request maps to one of three buckets. Route on the operator's own words.
+
+| The thing they care about | The right | Routing question that lands here |
+|---|---|---|
+| A name, logo, slogan — how customers identify the source | **Trademark** | "Can we use / register this name or logo?" |
+| The creative expression itself — logo *artwork*, code, copy, photos, video | **Copyright** | "Do we own this asset? Can we stop a copy?" |
+| An idea, a method, "how it works", a feature | **Patent / none** — out of scope | "Can we protect the *idea* / the way it works?" |
+
+Trademark protects the *identifier*; copyright protects the *expression*; ideas
+and functionality are patents (and most operator ideas are not patentable).
+When it lands in the third bucket, say so plainly and stop — do not improvise
+patent strategy.
+
+## Step 2 — free vs. registered
+
+What you get the moment you create or use something, vs. what costs money and
+buys real remedies.
+
+- **Copyright exists automatically on creation/fixation.** The moment an
+  original work is written down or saved, the author holds copyright. No filing
+  needed to *own* it.
+- **Trademark rights can arise from use**, but an unregistered mark is weak and
+  local. Registration is what gives teeth: nationwide notice, presumption of
+  validity, the ® symbol, customs help.
+- **The §412 timely-registration gate is the one operators miss.** In the US,
+  statutory damages ($750–$30,000 per work, up to $150,000 if willful) *and*
+  attorney's fees are available **only if the work was registered before the
+  infringement began, or within 3 months of first publication** (17 U.S.C.
+  §412). Miss the window and you are limited to hard-to-prove actual damages.
+
+Bad → Good:
+- Bad: "We'll register the copyright if someone actually copies us."
+- Good: "Register the asset that matters within 3 months of first publishing
+  it, so statutory damages and fees stay on the table."
+
+## Step 3 — trademark: clear, then file
+
+The order is non-negotiable: **clear before you adopt, register before you
+flaunt the ®.**
+
+1. **Clearance search.** Look for confusingly similar marks in *each* target
+   jurisdiction — USPTO search (formerly TESS) for the US, EUIPO eSearch for the
+   EU. Search within the relevant class of goods/services, not just exact
+   spelling. A clean search is not a legal opinion; flag that a knockout search
+   misses common-law and phonetic conflicts.
+2. **Pick the class(es).** Registration is by Nice classification class of
+   goods/services. The same word in two unrelated classes can coexist. Each
+   extra class costs another fee.
+3. **Pick the jurisdiction(s).** Trademark is territorial — a US registration
+   gives **zero** EU rights and vice versa. File where you actually sell or will
+   sell.
+   - **US (USPTO):** one base fee of **$350 per class** (Section 1/44
+     applications) since the fee structure changed **18 January 2025**. Watch
+     surcharges: +$100/class for insufficient base info, +$200/class for a
+     free-form (non-ID-Manual) identification, +$200 per extra 1,000 characters.
+   - **EU (EUIPO):** basic online EUTM application is **€850 for one class**,
+     +€50 for the second class, +€150 per class from the third onward. Renewal
+     mirrors the application fee.
+   - Filing in many countries → Madrid Protocol; Spain → OEPM. See
+     `references/jurisdictions.md`.
+4. **Symbols.** Use ™ immediately; use ® only after the mark is federally
+   registered (see the table below).
+
+### Symbol & notice usage
+
+| Symbol | Means | When you may use it |
+|---|---|---|
+| ™ | Claiming rights in a **product** mark | Anyone, any time, registered or not |
+| ℠ | Claiming rights in a **service** mark | Anyone, any time, registered or not |
+| ® | **Federally registered** mark | ONLY after the registration issues |
+| © year, holder | Copyright notice (e.g. `© 2026 Acme S.L.`) | Any time on your own work; optional but useful |
+
+**Using ® before registration is a false claim of registration** — it can be
+deemed deceptive, treated as fraud on the public, and *jeopardize your own
+enforcement*. Until the certificate issues, it is ™ (or ℠ for services), full
+stop.
+
+## Step 4 — ownership: the contractor trap
+
+This is the one that bites hardest, so audit it explicitly.
+
+**Default rule: the creator owns the copyright. Paying for the work does not
+transfer it.** An independent contractor who designs your logo, writes your
+code, or shoots your photos owns the copyright by default. The hiring party
+gets ownership **only** via:
+
+- a **signed written copyright assignment**, or
+- a **work-made-for-hire** agreement that *also* falls within the 9 statutory
+  categories (17 U.S.C. §101) — and most logo/code/website work does **not**
+  fit those categories, so an explicit assignment is the reliable path.
+
+(Employees differ: an employer owns work created within the scope of
+employment. Contractors do not get that treatment.)
+
+**AI-generated output:** US copyright requires **human authorship**. Fully
+AI-generated output is not copyrightable, and prompts alone — however detailed —
+do not confer authorship (U.S. Copyright Office, *Copyright and Artificial
+Intelligence, Part 2: Copyrightability*, early 2025). Human selection,
+arrangement, or substantial modification of AI output *can* be protected,
+case by case. So an AI-only mascot or hero image may not be yours to enforce.
+
+### "Do we own this?" checklist
+
+- [ ] Was the asset (logo, code, copy, design) made by an employee or a
+      contractor? Contractor → ownership did **not** transfer by default.
+- [ ] Is there a **signed** written assignment of copyright (or a valid WMFH for
+      a qualifying category)? An invoice or "paid in full" note is not an
+      assignment.
+- [ ] Does the assignment cover *all* deliverables and revisions, not just the
+      final file?
+- [ ] Were any portions AI-generated? Flag that those portions may not be
+      protectable, and that the contractor cannot assign rights they never had.
+- [ ] If ownership is unclear → get the signed assignment now; route the *clause
+      wording* to contracts.
+
+Bad → Good:
+- Bad: "We paid the agency, so the logo is ours."
+- Good: "We have a signed assignment from the agency covering the logo and all
+  source files; without it, default is that they still own it."
+
+## Step 5 — licensing basics
+
+- **Notice format:** `© <year> <legal name>` (e.g. `© 2026 Acme S.L.`). Optional
+  but it dates your claim and signals ownership.
+- **License vs. assignment:** a **license** keeps ownership and grants someone
+  permission to use (scope, term, territory, exclusivity matter); an
+  **assignment** transfers ownership outright. Decide which you mean before you
+  paper it.
+- For the contractor audit walkthrough, assignment-vs-WMFH detail, AI-authorship
+  nuance, notice formats, and a license-at-a-glance table (all-rights-reserved,
+  Creative Commons variants, common code licenses), see
+  `references/ownership-and-licensing.md`.
+
+## Anti-patterns
+
+| Anti-pattern | Why it is wrong | Do instead |
+|---|---|---|
+| Putting ® on a mark that isn't registered | False claim of registration; can be deceptive and undermine enforcement | Use ™ (or ℠) until the registration certificate issues |
+| "We paid for it, so we own it" | Contractor owns copyright by default; payment ≠ transfer | Get a signed written assignment covering all deliverables |
+| Treating one registration as worldwide | Trademark is territorial — US ≠ EU | File in each jurisdiction where you sell; consider Madrid Protocol |
+| Registering before clearing | You can spend the fee and still infringe an earlier mark | Run a clearance search per jurisdiction and class *first* |
+| Shipping AI-only output and assuming you own the copyright | No human authorship = not copyrightable | Add human authorship/modification, or accept it may be unprotectable |
+| "We'll register the copyright later if needed" | Misses the §412 window for statutory damages + fees | Register within 3 months of first publication of the asset that matters |
+
+## Boundaries — route these out
+
+- **Drafting or redlining the IP-assignment clause, NDA, or contractor
+  agreement** → `../contracts/SKILL.md`. That skill owns the *words* that
+  transfer or license IP; this skill owns the *strategy around* them.
+- **Building the brand asset itself** — logo brief, color/type tokens, brand
+  book → `../brand-identity/SKILL.md` (creating the asset, not protecting it).
+- **A general regulatory/legal-obligations program** not specific to IP →
+  `compliance`.
+- **Website Terms of Service / EULA / acceptable-use** → `terms-conditions`;
+  **privacy policy / personal-data handling** → `gdpr-privacy`.
+- **Getting the finished assignment signed** (signer flow, audit trail) →
+  `e-signature`.
+
+**Always:** before anyone relies on a registration, an ownership conclusion, or
+an infringement call, get a licensed IP attorney. You triage and prepare; a
+lawyer makes it binding.

package/skills/ip-trademark/evals/README.md

@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+# Evals — ip-trademark
+
+These cases are routing and coverage checks, not a graded automated harness.
+To run them, prompt the model with each `should_trigger` prompt and confirm
+`ip-trademark` fires (and produces triage, not a drafted clause); prompt it with
+each `should_not_trigger` prompt and confirm it declines and routes to the named
+sibling (`contracts`, `brand-identity`, `terms-conditions`, `gdpr-privacy`,
+`compliance`). For the `capability` scenario, run it once and score the answer
+by hand against the `must_include` rubric — every bullet should be present. No
+score is stored; this is a manual sanity pass on triage quality and boundaries.

package/skills/ip-trademark/evals/cases.yaml

@@ -0,0 +1,47 @@
+skill: ip-trademark
+
+should_trigger:
+  - prompt: "Can we use the name 'Northwind' for our SaaS? How do I check it's free?"
+    why: Brand-name clearance — the core trademark search question before adopting a name.
+  - prompt: "When am I allowed to put the ® on our logo?"
+    why: Symbol-use rule; ® only after registration, ™ before. Direct trademark-notice trigger.
+  - prompt: "We paid a freelancer to design our logo. Do we actually own it?"
+    why: Non-obvious contractor-ownership trap — default is the creator owns; payment is not transfer.
+  - prompt: "Is our AI-generated mascot copyrightable?"
+    why: 2025 AI-authorship limit — fully AI output is not copyrightable; case-by-case for human contribution.
+  - prompt: "¿De quién es el copyright del logo que nos hizo el diseñador?"
+    why: Spanish phrasing of the ownership-default question; must still route here.
+  - prompt: "Should I register the trademark in the US, the EU, or both?"
+    why: Jurisdiction / territoriality decision with per-class fees ($350 US, €850 EU).
+  - prompt: "Someone is selling shirts with our slogan and our content — what can we actually do?"
+    why: Non-obvious — surfaces the §412 timely-registration gate and remedy reality before infringement talk.
+
+should_not_trigger:
+  - prompt: "Draft the IP-assignment clause for our contractor agreement."
+    route_to: contracts
+    why: Clause language and signed-paper risk allocation belong to contracts, not rights strategy.
+  - prompt: "Design our logo and pick the color palette."
+    route_to: brand-identity
+    why: Creating the brand asset, not protecting it.
+  - prompt: "Write our website Terms of Service."
+    route_to: terms-conditions
+    why: Site policy drafting, not IP rights triage.
+  - prompt: "Write a privacy policy for how we store user data."
+    route_to: gdpr-privacy
+    why: Personal-data handling, not intellectual property.
+  - prompt: "Set up our overall regulatory compliance program."
+    route_to: compliance
+    why: General legal-obligations program, not IP-specific rights.
+
+capability:
+  - scenario: >
+      An operator paid a freelancer for a logo and a landing page, launched
+      under a name they never searched, and slapped a ® on the logo. They ask
+      whether they are protected and what to fix.
+    must_include:
+      - Flags the ® misuse and says to use ™ (or ℠) until a registration actually issues.
+      - States the contractor owns the copyright by default absent a signed written assignment, and recommends getting that assignment.
+      - Recommends a clearance search (USPTO / EUIPO) per jurisdiction before relying on the name.
+      - Mentions class and jurisdiction for any registration, with $350/class (US) or €850 one class (EU).
+      - Flags that any AI-generated portions may not be copyrightable / protectable.
+      - Ends with the get-an-IP-attorney boundary and routes clause drafting to contracts.

package/skills/ip-trademark/references/jurisdictions.md

@@ -0,0 +1,63 @@
+# Jurisdictions: US vs. EU vs. Spain
+
+Trademark protection is **national/territorial**. A registration in one
+jurisdiction grants no rights in another. File where you sell or will sell.
+None of this is legal advice — confirm fees and procedure with the office or a
+licensed attorney before relying on it. Figures accessed 2026-06-02.
+
+## At a glance
+
+| | US — USPTO | EU — EUIPO (EUTM) | Spain — OEPM |
+|---|---|---|---|
+| Scope | United States | All 27 EU member states | Spain only |
+| Search tool | USPTO trademark search (formerly TESS) | EUIPO eSearch | OEPM online search |
+| Base application fee | **$350 per class** (Section 1/44) | **€850 for one class** | National schedule (lower; confirm at OEPM) |
+| Second class | +$350/class | +€50 | per OEPM schedule |
+| Third+ class | +$350/class | +€150 per class | per OEPM schedule |
+| Symbol after grant | ® | ® | ® |
+
+The US base fee replaced the old TEAS Plus / TEAS Standard split with a single
+$350-per-class base, effective **18 January 2025**.
+
+### US surcharges to watch (USPTO, 2025 fee changes)
+
+- **+$100 per class** if the application is missing required base information.
+- **+$200 per class** for using a free-form identification of goods/services
+  instead of the pre-approved ID Manual wording.
+- **+$200 per class** for each additional group of 1,000 characters in a
+  free-form identification.
+
+Practical takeaway: pick goods/services from the ID Manual and supply complete
+base info to avoid stacking surcharges on top of the $350.
+
+## Nice classification (classes)
+
+Trademarks register **by class of goods/services** under the Nice
+Classification (45 classes: 1–34 goods, 35–45 services). The same word can
+coexist in unrelated classes (e.g. a software mark in Class 9/42 vs. a clothing
+mark in Class 25). Each class adds a fee in every jurisdiction. Choose the
+class(es) that match what you actually sell, plus near-adjacent ones you have a
+genuine intent to use.
+
+## Filing in many countries — Madrid Protocol
+
+The **Madrid Protocol** lets you file one international application through your
+home office (e.g. USPTO or, for Spain, OEPM/EUIPO) and designate multiple member
+countries, paying per designated country. It is administratively simpler than
+filing separately everywhere, but:
+
+- It depends on a home "basic" application/registration for the first 5 years
+  (central attack risk).
+- Each designated country still examines under its own law and can refuse.
+- It does not create a single worldwide right — it is a bundle of national
+  rights administered centrally.
+
+## Symbols across jurisdictions
+
+- ™ / ℠ — usable by anyone claiming rights in a product / service mark,
+  registered or not, in common-law contexts (notably the US). Some
+  jurisdictions place less weight on ™ but it is not a false claim.
+- ® — usable **only after registration issues**, and only in the jurisdiction
+  where the mark is registered. Using ® for a mark registered only in the US on
+  EU-facing materials is risky; match the symbol to the jurisdiction where the
+  registration is valid.

package/skills/ip-trademark/references/ownership-and-licensing.md

@@ -0,0 +1,90 @@
+# Ownership & licensing
+
+Not legal advice. This walks the operator through *who owns what* and *how to
+license it*, so they know what to ask a licensed IP attorney to make binding.
+Facts accessed 2026-06-02.
+
+## Contractor IP audit — walkthrough
+
+The default surprises most founders: **the creator owns the copyright, and
+paying for the work does not transfer it.** Run this in order.
+
+1. **Classify the maker.** Employee creating within the scope of employment →
+   employer owns by default. Independent contractor → contractor owns by
+   default, full stop, regardless of the invoice.
+2. **Find the signed transfer.** For contractor work, ownership moves to you
+   only by a **signed written copyright assignment** or a valid
+   **work-made-for-hire** agreement. A paid invoice, an email "it's yours", or a
+   verbal promise is not a transfer.
+3. **Check the work-made-for-hire fit.** WMFH for a contractor is valid *only*
+   if the work is one of the **9 statutory categories** in 17 U.S.C. §101
+   (contribution to a collective work; part of a motion picture/AV work;
+   translation; supplementary work; compilation; instructional text; test;
+   answer material for a test; atlas) **and** there is a signed writing saying
+   it is WMFH. A standalone logo, app codebase, or marketing site usually does
+   **not** fit — so do not rely on WMFH for those; use an outright assignment.
+4. **Check scope.** Does the assignment cover *all* deliverables, source files,
+   and later revisions — or only the one final export? Gaps leave the
+   contractor owning the rest.
+5. **Check the AI layer.** A contractor cannot assign rights they never owned.
+   AI-generated portions may not be copyrightable at all (below), so an
+   assignment of "all rights" silently transfers nothing for those pieces.
+6. **Conclusion.** If any link is missing, the honest answer is "ownership is
+   unclear / probably still the contractor's." Recommend getting the signed
+   assignment now and route the *clause wording* to the contracts skill.
+
+## Assignment vs. work-made-for-hire
+
+| | Assignment | Work-made-for-hire |
+|---|---|---|
+| Mechanism | Transfers an existing copyright from owner to you | Treats you as the author from the start |
+| Needs a signed writing | Yes | Yes |
+| Category limits | None — works for any work | Contractor work must be 1 of the 9 §101 categories |
+| Reliable for logos/code/web | **Yes** | Usually no (doesn't fit a category) |
+| US termination risk | Author may have later termination rights | Not applicable (you are deemed author) |
+
+Default recommendation for typical startup deliverables: **assignment**, because
+it works regardless of category.
+
+## AI authorship — case by case
+
+Per the U.S. Copyright Office, *Copyright and Artificial Intelligence, Part 2:
+Copyrightability* (early 2025):
+
+- **Fully AI-generated output is not copyrightable.** No human author, no
+  copyright.
+- **Prompts alone do not confer authorship**, no matter how detailed —
+  prompting is treated more like instructing than authoring.
+- **Human contribution can earn protection**: creative selection, arrangement,
+  or substantial modification of AI output is analyzed case by case, and the
+  protectable part is the human contribution, not the raw AI generation.
+
+Operator translation: if a logo or hero image came straight out of a generator
+with no meaningful human authorship, treat it as potentially unprotectable and
+do not build enforcement plans on it.
+
+## Copyright notice format
+
+`© <year> <legal name>` — e.g. `© 2026 Acme S.L.`. Optional in most modern
+regimes but worth using: it dates the claim, identifies the owner, and rebuts
+"innocent infringement" arguments. For software, a short `LICENSE` file plus a
+header notice is the norm.
+
+## License-at-a-glance
+
+A **license** keeps ownership and grants use; an **assignment** transfers
+ownership. Choose deliberately.
+
+| License | What it allows | Watch out for |
+|---|---|---|
+| All rights reserved | Nothing without your permission | Default; nobody may reuse |
+| CC BY | Reuse with attribution | Commercial use allowed |
+| CC BY-SA | Reuse with attribution, derivatives share-alike | Viral: derivatives inherit the license |
+| CC BY-NC | Reuse with attribution, non-commercial only | "Non-commercial" is fuzzy and disputed |
+| CC0 / public domain dedication | Anything, no attribution | You give up essentially all rights |
+| MIT / BSD (code) | Reuse with notice retained | Permissive; minimal obligations |
+| Apache-2.0 (code) | Permissive + patent grant | Notice + state-changes requirements |
+| GPL / AGPL (code) | Reuse, but derivatives must open-source | Copyleft; AGPL reaches network use |
+
+Picking the wrong license is hard to undo once others rely on it — decide before
+publishing, and get a licensed attorney to confirm anything load-bearing.